


Panda dad

by Iwastemytimereading



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Oh, and pierre obssesed with pandas, as usual, just pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28491591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iwastemytimereading/pseuds/Iwastemytimereading
Summary: A story about Charles being in love with Pierre, Pierre being obsessed with pandas and in love with Charles and pandas being in love with bamboo.
Relationships: Pierre Gasly/Charles Leclerc
Comments: 2
Kudos: 52





	Panda dad

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I am back with another story, this time a Pearl one. Once again, big thanks to @Laeana for helping me with French geography and other stuff, thank you to emotionalsupportfastcars for giving me the info on Pierre and Le Mans, you can find them both on here, go check them out, their stories are beautiful! And thanks to holdmyhopeinyourhands tumblr user that let me borrow their post that this fic is based on.  
> this is the post I'm talking about: https://holdmyhopeinyourhands.tumblr.com/post/638101846573137920/lance-why-is-pierre  
> other than that, enjoy and let me know in the comments what you thought about it.

Bosguet, June 2019

He was sitting in the passenger seat with Charles behind the wheel. He had no idea where they were going, since Charles refused to tell him. He forced him to get up at 5 am (why?), which Pierre found both rude and surprising. Rude because he was sleeping and surprising because Charles was usually still sleeping at that time as well. As a normal person should. But oh no. Charles just suddenly had an idea to go for a road trip and drag Pierre alongside as well. So here he was, in Charles’ car, at 5.30 in the morning, driving God knows where, trying to sleep, just because Charles had a crazy idea once again and Pierre was unable to say no to him. Once again.  
He knew there was no stopping Charles once he got one of his crazy ideas stuck in his head, the best thing to do was to just.. let him do it and then he’d come down by himself, eventually. So, he decided to try to catch some sleep, which, considering he was dealing with a crazy-ideas-filled-Charles, was probably a good choice. He leaned against the window and thought back when him and Charles were sitting next to each other so many years ago, but at least back then, they knew where they were going. In a way.  
\---

Le Mans, June 2006

Pierre was sleepy and tired; he could feel his eyelids drooping and he slowly leaned against a seat when he could feel someone’s head land in his lap. His hands instinctively dropped down from where they were leaned against the window and wound themselves in the hair of the person who decided to drop his head in Pierre’s lap.  
Pierre’s parents decided to take him and Charles to the 24 hours of Le Mans race and then to a surprise destination, as they called it. They’ve been driving for almost two hours, but Pierre was already tired. Him and Charles spent almost the whole night talking, like they always did when staying at each other’s house. They talked about everything and nothing; about karting, about competitions, they talked about formula 1 and how amazing it would be to one day race as one of the 20 best drivers in the world. It was a dream they could spend hours talking about and even more trying to reach it. Training on the track, trying to balance the school life and the racing life, not always easy, but necessary, Pierre knew there was no way his parents, especially his mom would let him continue with racing if he didn’t do well enough at school first. Their parents decided that taking them to see the race, as so many times before, was a kind of end of the school year gift for the two. They took them out of school for a week for this occasion specifically.

They started driving in the early morning hours, to get there soon enough to find a hotel room and do everything in peace before the race started. They were planning on staying over the weekend anyways, to explore the town, see the race, and just let the two boys enjoy their break. Pierre was leaning against the window, trying to find a comfortable position to fall asleep in, with Charles’ head in his lap. He knew Charles’ hair was always messy either way, so it wouldn’t look any different if Pierre messed with it a bit. He finally found a comfy position, the memories of the last year’s race already playing in front of his eyes as dreams took over. He didn’t wake up until they arrived at the hotel, when his parents woke both him and Pierre up and they had to help with the language, both still drowsy, but already excited for the race. It would start in a few hours, and their hotel was right next to a part of the track the drivers were going to be racing on. They planned to stay and watch for a few hours and then go explore the city. 

When it was finally time to go, in Pierre’s mind, that was taking way too long, his parents taking him and Charles to the track to watch the race. Charles’ and Pierre’s eyes widenening in excitement as they saw the cars fly by. They were both cheering for the Pescarolo Sport, the French team.  
Pierre loved Le Mans with a passion and aside from Formula 1, racing at Le Mans was one of his biggest dreams. Hearing the cars, smelling the fuel, when they went so fast, all you could see were blurs, Pierre loved it. He knew he wanted to go live here one day, to race here one day. Charles did too. Even though Pierre liked it more than him, it was always great to have someone to talk to about the things you loved, and if the person you were talking to loved all of the same things, well, Pierre knew he was lucky to have found a friend as great as Charles. 

Later, after the race ended and Pescarolo Sport ended up on the third place, they decided to go out to celebrate and their parents decided to take them out for a pizza and let them stay up for as long as they wanted, after telling them they would go on the road the first thing in the morning to reach their surprise destination in time. Charles and Pierre once again stayed up late into the night, sitting on the windowsill of their hotel room, watching the stars and the track that ran practically in front of the door of the hotel. ‘Pierre?’ ‘Yeah?’ ‘I know you love Le Mans, but what did you think of the race?’ Pierre knew his eyes were shining as he turned towards his friend. ‘I loved it all so much! All the cars and the drivers and just the sheer energy of the place, seeing them stand on that podium, it was so amazing! I really want to try that sometime Sharl. I want to drive this track, see how fast I can go, feel the limits of the car, all of it, it just looks like a dream come true.’ Charles then nudged him with his elbow, ‘besides Formula 1’ Pierre just grinned and threw his arm over his friend’s shoulders. ‘besides Formula 1. Racing next to you, with you, in Formula 1 will always be my number one dream.’ Charles just smiled as he leaned into Pierre and the two spent hours talking until getting too tired to sit upright and climbed into their beds, with a soft ‘goodnight’ whispered from both sides.  
\---

Le Mans, June 2019

When Pierre opened his eyes, his first thought was to choke Charles, and not in the good way. Oh no, he was not letting his thoughts go that way, he only allowed them to do that late at night with Charles far away. He turned slowly towards him with tired eyes and his annoyance level growing. ‘Sharl?’ his friend turned towards him and grinned ‘Yes Pierre?’ ‘Why are we in Le Mans?’ Charles looked at him weirdly, but he could see that he was just pretending to be serious. ‘But I thought you loved it here?’ 

Pierre rubbed his eyes and inhaled and exhaled a few times. ‘We were here two days ago Charles. We came to watch the race, remember? We have a race, our race, that we compete in, in a week. One week Sharl. Why exactly did you drag me here again?’ Charles looked back at the road again. ‘You’ll see, it’s a surprise, we have almost two hours of driving left to do, so just close your eyes, catch up on your beauty sleep, and I’ll wake you up when we arrive, yeah?’ at that point Pierre was too tired to even try fighting with Charles so he just sighed and tried to fall back asleep again.  
\---

ZooParc de Beauval, June 2006

Pierre couldn’t believe it. He really couldn’t. his parents brought him and Charles to the place he’d been begging them to take him for a few years already and now he was finally here, with Charles by his side and he couldn’t imagine a more perfect day. Not only had he seen the Le Mans race the day before, but he was also finally seeing the ZooParc de Beauval with his own eyes. And it was just as magical and amazing and beautiful as he imagined it would be. 

He was currently standing in a glass cabin, Charles by his side, both of them looking at the zoo underneath their feet. Pierre felt so free, seeing the animals, the nature, the blue skies, and the bright sun. He only felt like that during karting and that said quite a lot. He felt a nudge against his side and looked over at Charles, a blinding smile on his face and Pierre knew he was mirroring his best friend’s expression.

Once the cabin touched down, both of them ran out and after a few minutes, they stood in front of the giant panda enclosure. Pierre walked up until he was right next to it and placed his palms on the glass wall that was separating him and the panda. He was completely amazed by the animal in front of him, the big paws holding sticks of bamboo to eat. The animal turned towards the glass and looked at Pierre who could only stare back at it. When he thought things couldn’t get better, he could see a smaller panda, a cub, walking out of the den in the back and run towards its parent. Its small legs not quite keeping up with the movement, so the little one fell over a few times while trying to reach his destination. Once he got there, its parent gently placed the youngling in its lap and then nosed its fur.  
Pierre was so fascinated with the animals in front of him, he didn’t even notice Charles disappearing for a few moments and then reappearing. When he turned around after staring at the beautiful scene in front of him, he saw Charles next to him, hiding something behind his back, but he wouldn’t let him see what that something was, no matter how much Pierre tried to. ‘Come on Sharl, why can’t I see it?’ ‘it’s a surprise.’ C’mon Sharl!’ ‘nope. Close your eyes calamar.’ Pierre smiled slightly at the nickname Charles insisted on calling him ever since they exited the zoo’s aquarium and saw all the squids and octopuses. Pierre got his revenge of course, and started calling Charles petit calamardo, but it didn’t seem like his friend minded the new nickname much. 

Pierre knew that Charles wasn’t going to give up, so he decided to close his eyes, if only to see what he was hiding from him. ‘alright, hold out your hands Pierre.’ He did so and raised his eyebrows when he felt something soft being put in his outstretched palms. ‘can I open my eyes now?’ ‘yup!’ Pierre did and when he saw what he was holding he gasped softly. It was a small panda plushie, its black eyes staring up at Pierre and Pierre hugged the plushie to his face, feeling the soft hairs of the toy tickle his chin. ‘I-Sharl, this is amazing! How did you know-‘ his friend grinned, ‘I saw the way you were looking at the pandas before, do you like it?’ Pierre looked him in the eyes and then swept him up in a hug. ‘Like it? Sharl, I love it, thank you so much!’ the younger just smiled, a slight blush covering his cheecks and then Pierre dragged them back to watch the pandas some more. That was how their parents found them, sitting on the bench, and watching the pandas play behind the glass wall, smiles reaching their eyes, and the plushie panda sitting in Pierre lap. That was the day when pandas became Pierre’s favourite animals.  
\---

ZooParc de Beauval, June 2019

Pierre stirred in his sleep but when he felt an arm shake his shoulder he woke up, his eyelids slowly fluttering open. When his vision focused, he felt blood rush to his face when he saw that Charles was right in front of him. So close that Pierre could count his eyelashes and see the little flecks of yellow in Charles’ eyes. Ever since he once told him that, whenever Charles would be asked what color his eyes were, he’d always answer yellow. 

Pierre quickly pretended to rub the sleep out of his eyes and stretch his arms, missing how Charles’ eyes slipped down to where his shirt rode up his body, revealing a sliver of skin. Once he turned to look at him again, Charles was rubbing his neck and toying with something he was holding in his hands. ‘Umm, Sharl, what’s that?’ his best friend looked up and reveal a blindfold. And ok, look. Pierre was a hot-blooded male, his mind went places, alright. ‘a blindfold? Really Sharl? In a car of all places? You could at least rent a hotel room, I thought you were classier than that’ Pierre slapped his hand on his mouth when he realized what he said as Charles’ head snapped up and he looked at him with his eyebrows raised and a smirk playing on his lips. ‘Well, well, Pierre, something you might want to share with me or…’ Pierre shook his head wildly, ‘no, nope. Just, ignore me, I- I’m still sleep deprived, because you pulled me out of my bed at 5am you idiot.’ Sharl just winked at him, still a losing battle, and leaned over to Pierre to tie the blindfold over his eyes. He just sighed and decided to let Charles be in control, at least for a while. Oh, his mind was on a roll today, wasn’t it?

Once Charles made sure Pierre couldn’t see anything at all, he lead him out of the car and towards… well, Pierre didn’t really know where he was being led to, but he has long since tried to figure out or stop Charles’ plan. So, he let himself being led for about 15 minutes and then Pierre finally sat him down on what felt like a bench. ‘Can I untie the blindfold now Sharl? Please?’ Pierre asked, both out of curiosity and fear for his own life. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Charles, he did, but letting himself be led around blindfolded for 15 minutes, everyone would be at least a little bit afraid. ‘Yes, Pierre, you can untie it.’ Pierre did and what he saw almost brought tears to his eyes. They were sitting on a bench, the same one they were sitting on so many years ago, in front of the panda enclosure. Pierre jumped up and ran to the glass wall, once again staring at the beautiful animals walking around and eating the bamboo.

He looked back and saw that Charles was still sitting on the bench, holding a wrapped box in his hands. ‘Sharl?’ ‘Yes, calamar?’ Pierre smiled at the nickname; he hadn’t heard it in some time. ‘What is that?’ Charles just rolled his eyes, but Pierre could see that he was nervous. He walked to the bench and sat down next to him, Charles handing him the box. ‘What did I do to deserve this?’ ‘Let’s call it a late birthday gift’ ‘Sharl, my birthday was in February’ ‘and early Christmas gift?’ Pierre could see that his friend was just making up excuses, but he decided to tease him a little further. ‘it’s June.’ Charles was getting frustrated and Pierre was trying to hide his grin. ‘Just-just open it, will you?’

Pierre smiled and opened the box. Inside of it, there was a panda plushie, along with some papers. He looked up at his friend in confusion, ‘Sharl, what is that? I still have the panda plushie you gave me when we were first here, why-‘ ‘I thought it could use the company. But read the papers, yeah?’ Pierre furrowed his eyebrows but took the papers in his hands, nevertheless. He started reading them, his eyes widening with every word he read. ‘Sharl, is that what I think it is?’ his friend scratched his neck, a light blush dusting his cheecks as he looked at the ground. ‘I- I know you love pandas and I know you’ve been wanting to build a little house for one in your house and I know this isn’t the same, but you’ll be able to name it and pay for its food and shelter and make sure it’s safe and-‘  
Pierre could feel tears welling up in his eyes as he held Charles’ chin in his hands. ‘You adopted a panda for me?’ ‘Yeah, I mean, like I said, I know it’s not the same, but-‘ Pierre surged forward and caught Charles’ lips in a deep kiss. For a moment he stiffened when he felt that Charles’ wasn’t kissing back, they were best friends after all, what if he just ruined it all, what if… but then he heard Charles whimper in his mouth and start kissing back, gentle fingers coming up to hold onto Pierre’s neck and Pierre moved his hands to Charles’ hair, messing it up. He remembered they were still in public and slowly moved away from Charles, their foreheads still pressed together, both of them breathing hard, but with smiles on their faces. 

Charles looked up at Pierre, who once again got caught in the golden flecks dancing in the middle of the green. ‘So… I take it you liked your present?’ Pierre chuckled lightly, lifting Charles’s chin, so he could peck his lips again, ‘Liked it? My petit calamardo, I loved it’ Charles smiled softly, leaning up to capture his lips in another kiss and Pierre knew that when he thought he couldn’t imagine a more perfect day all those years ago, he was wrong. This was better, this was one of the best days of his life, he thought as he laid his head on Charles’, gently pressing a kiss to his temple, his eyes falling on the pandas, that were chewing away on the bamboo, unaware that they had more effect on the scene they were witnessing than they would ever know.

**Author's Note:**

> if you wanna, you can also come and say hi to me on tumblr, my name is iwastemytimereading1


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